MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

[DJ]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

What is your injury slider at?

Everything is at default.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Welcome to the big leagues Harrison Murdock!!!!! Harrison Murdock who was called up after Patrick Wisdom was placed on the 10 Day DL with back issues, hit a 2 run walkoff homerun in the bottom of the 9th, to prevail the Cardinals to a 4-3 victory over the Dodgers, and even moreso a series sweep!!!

Up 2-0 in the 7th, Sam Freeman allowed 3 runs without recording an out as the Dodgers took the lead. John Brebbia got us out of that jam and then Jordan Walden when 2 innings striking out 5 of the 6 batters he faced and got Micah Johnson to hit a lazy pop out in foul territory. In the 9th, Dioner Navarro reached on a walk and Harrison Murdock proceeded to take the first pitch from Yusmeiro Petit and belt it into Big Mac Land in left field for the 4-3 walkoff. That was the 2nd walkoff homerun given up by Petit in as many days.

Next up is a 4 game series in Atlanta.

[LowerWolf]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

I'm 83 games in and I think I'm going to reboot. I really want the audio in for Acuna, Soroka, etc., and the only way to get that is to start over. I'm still using the default roster, but I imported some of the rookies.

I never called Acuna up in the first go-around, but he'll be on my Opening Day roster in Franchise 2.0.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

The win streak stands at 4 as we took the first game of the series against the Braves 6-2. Luke Weaver pitched well as he went 7 strong innings allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and striking out 5. Juan Fabregas hit a 2 run homer and then Magnerius Sierra added a 3 run homer in the 4th for an early 5-0 lead that we would not give up.

Next up is game 2 of the 4 game weekend series. Miles Mikolas will face Manny Banuelos.


Matt Carpenter will be back after this series when we head home to face the Royals as part of a 6 game home stand that also includes the Cubs. Jack Flaherty should be ready to pitch when the Cubs do make it into town.

[LowerWolf]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Braves franchise 2.0:

Acuna, Soroka, Allard, Peterson and Preston Tucker all exist now in my universe. I also imported Torres, Soto and Kingery. All are from the latest SCEA roster update, imported into the default roster.

Default All-Star, Classic pitching, Directional hitting and Auto fielding with Manual throwing and baserunning. Only house rule is I have to use the trade block to facilitate trades.

Injuries are off. Not as realistic, but it always seems as though the CPU gets hit harder than me, so I just turn them off.

Opening Day lineup
1 - Ender Inciarte, CF
2 - Ozzie Albies, 2B
3 - Freddie Freeman, 1B
4 - Tyler Flowers, C
5 - Nick Markakis, RF
6 - Ronald Acuna Jr., LF
7 - Johan Camargo, 3B
8 - Dansby Swanson, SS

Bench
Kurt Suzuki, C
Charlie Culberson, INF
Preston Tucker, OF
Lane Adams, OF
Danny Santana, Util

Rotation
1 - Julio Teheran
2 - Brandon McCarthy
3 - Sean Newcomb
4 - Mike Foltynewicz
5 - Anibal Sanchez

Bullpen
CL - Arodys Vizcaino
SU - Grant Dayton
MR - Peter Moylan
MR - Sam Freeman
MR - Rex Brothers
MR - Jose Ramirez
LR - Chase Whitley

Lineup was pretty much set at the start of spring. Inciarte always does well for me in the leadoff spot. Acuna won't have as much pressure hitting sixth.

Final two bench spots came down to Adams, Santana and Christian Colon. Santana makes the team due to his versatility, and I decided to keep an extra OF with Adams. He and Tucker will be the top two PHs.

Final rotation spot came down to Sanchez and Gohara. Went with the veteran to start the season. The bullpen will probably be in flux to start the season. Dayton gets first crack at the setup role since he's the highest-rated.

[reyes the roof]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

I thought I had a three game series with Washington to close out the first half of the season but I misread the schedule and it's actually four games. Fortunately for us Trae Turner and Daniel Murphy are on the DL and Harper bruised his hand during game one and missed the first two games and I was able to win both pretty easily. I'm not very good offensively but if you leave a curveball above the knees I'm going to hit it out of the park 9 times out of ten, so Gio Gonzalaz was a huge mismatch in favor of us and we beat him up pretty good to set the tone of the series. Game three wasn't so easy, I only got 4 innings out of Zack Wheeler but I managed to bring a 6-5 lead in to the 9th. A blown save though sent the game in to extra innings and I won on a Wilmer Flores walk off HR in the 15 but my bullpen is completely shot now. I ran out of bullpen arms and needed to use my next day's starter to finish out the game, so now I have Syndergaard on short rest vs Scherzer to finish out the first half. I'm going to have to make deGrom and Matz available in the bullpen since we have a four day break coming up and I'm not sure what bullpen arms will be available. I normally try and give my regulars a day off here and there to keep them fresh but I've been playing everyone every day during this ten game stretch so the All Star break is much needed. Worst case, I'll be sitting 1.5 games up on the division heading in to the break, 3.5 if I can pull off the win vs Scherzer

[LowerWolf]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

First game:

Down 2-0 in the 9th. Phillies bring in Neshek to try to close it out. Inciarte and Freeman reach on singles sandwiched around an Albies flyout. Flowers hits a fly to right that the RF misplays for a 2-base error. So it's 2-1 now with Freeman on third and Adams (pinch-running for Flowers) on second. Markakis intentionally walked. Which brings up Acuna.

After fighting off some tough sinkers on a 2-2 count, Acuna singles to right (for his first career MLB hit) and Adams just slides in for the 3-2 win. Not a bad way to start.

[KBLover]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Sam Javeri picked up four RBI from the lead off spot to help key the Marlins attack as the completed the four-game sweep of the hapless Pirates.

The Marlins scored 42 runs in the series and are currently on a five game winning streak.

Huey Kiser got the start, his first since being recalled from New Orleans. He had a rough second inning in which he gave up three runs on four hits and looking like he was about to have a short outing.

But he pulled himself together and threw five shutout innings after that for a total of seven innings with nine strikeouts and five hits allowed. He walked no one and threw 101 pitches.

The Pirates were looking good behind their ace, Frank Molina. He had the Marlins contained on just one run through four innings on one hit, a Greg Rivera RBI double.

Then, Sam Javeri delivered the first of his two-RBI singles in the fifth inning to give the Marlins a 4-3 lead through five innings. Molina was chased the next inning when the Marlins scored two more and had a 6-3 lead.

Javeri came up again in the 8th to put the Marlins up with a more comfortable 8-3 lead.

The win improved Kiser's record to 3-1. The decent outing lowered his ERA to 5.52.

The Marlins will have a short two game series with the O's surrounded by off-days, and then three with the Rockies to head into the All-Star Break.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

We lost 3 out of 4 vs the Braves and now 6 out of our last 10. We just seem snake bit at the moment and have had our opportunities but can't do anything with them.

Injuries continue to plague this team as now Juan Fabregas is on the 10 Day DL with a pulled hamstring. We called up Oscar Mercado to take his place.

Once again our hitting is subpar as we as a team are only hitting .219 which surprisingly isn't last in the majors. Our pitching is dominant and has been carrying us early on, but when its off then we struggle.

Next up is a 6 game homestand, 3 with the Royals and 3 with the Cubs to close out the month of April.


On a brighter note our AA team, Springfield, is 17-0 this season. That's right, 17-0. Maybe I should switch those 25 guys with the 25 guys in St.Louis

[FSanchez12]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

When the first pitch was called on the 2018 Pirates Season, you would have to be deaf to ignore the factions of fans that disagreed with management's decisions to go in separate directions with Andrew McCutchen and Tony Watson. Both were long-time fan favorites, who were huge pieces to the most successful teams of the past decade, and the first Division Championship winning team in nearly 25 years. Despite that, the Pirates pushed along into 2018 with their sights set on another Division Crown.

While the Cubs have continued to prove that it was easier said that done to win the NL Central, the Pirates find themselves just 3 games back in the 2nd week of June. Stellar play from Adonis Garcia and an MVP caliber start from Starling Marte have paced the Pirates. Garcia would be a lock for a spot in the Midsummer Classic, had it not been for the fractured shin he succumbed to on a seemingly innocuous play.

Garcia will be out for some time, and the Pirates are now being confronted with either waiting for his bat to come back to the lineup, or grabbing a rental to help push them towards the title. Rumors have been swirling whether the Pirates will finally make a big splash on some of the big-name rentals in Manny Machado or Nolan Arenado at the deadline. The Pirates would likely need to part with Mitch Keller, which they are not interested in doing. The Bucs could also make a smaller move for a bat like Jonathan Schoop, that will likely require less future talent going the other way. Time will tell if Garcia's absence is truly that missed. In the meantime, Max Moroff has been called up to play 2B, and Josh Harrison will flip over to 3rd.

Internally, the Pirates found themselves in the middle of a squabble. A struggling Austin Meadows continued to find himself in the lineup, much to the detest of Desmond Jennings. Unfortunately for Jennings, he wasn't doing much better coming off of the bench, and Tommy Pham was hitting .335 in AAA, so the decision was made to move Jennings to the Phillies (who needed a CF), for AA SP JoJo Romero. Pham promptly went to the big club, and has been a solid addition off the bench. As for Meadows? He continues his hot streak, and has seen his average jump 35 points since the trade of Jennings.

So we're finally just about to present day. At least my ramblings will be less wordy!

[bryan_nelson88]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

So, I am just curious how everyone likes to play their franchise.

Last year as the Pirates I decided to play every game, but it got stale when I got into July.

What are some ways you guys keep these things alive?

Thanks.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

So, I am just curious how everyone likes to play their franchise.

Last year as the Pirates I decided to play every game, but it got stale when I got into July.

What are some ways you guys keep these things alive?

Thanks.

I play every single game, but some of the options to get thru the season that I've seen on OS are:

* Play every other game
* Play one game per series
* Only play when a certain pitcher is pitching (basically player lock)
* Turn on critical moments and play when prompted

[bryan_nelson88]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Sweet, thanks!

[FSanchez12]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

So, I am just curious how everyone likes to play their franchise.

Last year as the Pirates I decided to play every game, but it got stale when I got into July.

What are some ways you guys keep these things alive?

Thanks.

I guess it's easier for me to say since I was, and currently am playing as the Pirates. It helps for me to stay in the groove with the team, and keep things realistic. I try to play 1-2 games a series (usually just 1), and certainly circle all the games that get designated as an MLB Network game. I try not to make a big unrealistic trade (although it looks like the Bucs have bucked that trend recently). I never try to sim for too much of a gap (makes it feel like I had no hand in their success or failures), and I try not to play every game (to balance out the wins and losses, and make it worth playing).

That's just me personally though, I have friends that play every game because they want to set certain single season records, or at one point I was playing every game of my Fantasy Drafted Twins franchise because I played/simmed and started the season 14-1 and though, "I wonder how many wins I could actually get if I played every game". I ended up giving up in May, but it kept me engaged for some time. It's all about getting what you want out of it, I think that is the key to keeping with it, and not letting things get stale.

[notsobabybombers]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

We lost 3 out of 4 vs the Braves and now 6 out of our last 10. We just seem snake bit at the moment and have had our opportunities but can't do anything with them.

Injuries continue to plague this team as now Juan Fabregas is on the 10 Day DL with a pulled hamstring. We called up Oscar Mercado to take his place.

Once again our hitting is subpar as we as a team are only hitting .219 which surprisingly isn't last in the majors. Our pitching is dominant and has been carrying us early on, but when its off then we struggle.

Next up is a 6 game homestand, 3 with the Royals and 3 with the Cubs to close out the month of April.


On a brighter note our AA team, Springfield, is 17-0 this season. That's right, 17-0. Maybe I should switch those 25 guys with the 25 guys in St.Louis

17-0?! Wow. Hopefully some of that mojo spreads to the big league club.